Lane Kiffin: A $4 million man… or not?

Posted by John Taylor on May 18, 2010, 2:44 PM EDT

There was quite a bit of Twitter consternation from some in the media when it was reported Monday that Lane Kiffin — he of the 12 total wins as a head coach at the collegiate/NFL level — was pulling down somewhere in the rather exclusive neighborhood of $4 million annually as USC’s head coach.

That figure, reported on HBO’s Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel series that will air Tuesday night, is in line with the Urban Meyers-Mack Browns-Jim Tressels of the college football world. Coaches who have, ya know, actually accomplished something in the game.

As USC is a private school, though, the salaries of their coaches are not available to the public, so any figure attached to Kiffin’s salary is likely a guesstimate at best.

And, in this case, according to at least one report, it’s absolutely wrong.

On his ESPN.com blog, Bruce Feldman writes that the reports of Kiffin making $4 million — and his father Monte making around $2 million as an assistant — are not accurate. In fact, a source told Feldman that neither Kiffin is making anything close to that.

So, if you were pissed off over the total amount of money Kiffin was making given his lack of any real success at any level, you can feel free to be a little less pissed off this afternoon if Feldman’s source is correct.

I hope not. The great JoPa doesn’t even make 1 mil a year after two straight 11-2’s and 4 bowl wins in 5 years. And he’s in his 80’s. If this jerks is worth 4 mil what the hell would JoPa be worth? 10 mil? 15 mil? And he runs a clean program, one ALL of Pennsylvania is proud of. And of the chump change PSU gave JoPa, he gave back millions to the university for libraries, extra professors, endowments, etc. JoPa is the gold standard of what a college football coach should be. But no gold for him. Strange.

xacvol says:May 18, 2010 3:34 PM

Kiffins is the Paris Hilton of football. Famous for being famous.

DCroz says:May 18, 2010 10:57 PM

60eagles:
The reason why Joe Pa is not getting paid the millions per year that he is really worth is not because Penn State is cheap; it’s because he’s not interested in the money.
I remember flipping through his autobiography about 15 years ago and coming to a conversation he had with Bear Bryant around 1980. They were at some coaching convention talking to each other when the subject of salary came up. Paterno said that Bryant wrote a figure down on a napkin and showed it to him, saying that the amount was how much Paterno should demand that he be paid. Joe Pa said he almost choked when he saw it (though remember Bryant was only making about $200,000 per year himself; this was still well before the days of the megasalary). Paterno went on to say that money and power might have been what drove Bryant, but those were never things he himself craved.
So Penn State should be thankful they have someone like Joe Pa who is not just one of the greatest coaches of all time, but is also willing to do what he does on one of the lowest salaries of any major college coach. I can guarantee you that whoever replaces him when he coaches his last game in the near future will demand much more for his services.
Now Lane Kiffin, on the other hand, had better be happy he has a job. If he screws this one up, he’d better hope those boyish looks can charm the execs at ESPN or CBS to give him a job, because he’s not getting another chance to screw someone else over.

gator_prof says:May 19, 2010 10:51 AM

First time for everything, I agree that xacvol’s post sums up this situation perfectly.

nasheagles says:May 19, 2010 3:38 PM

as much as I disagree wit Kiffins lack of ethics; if So Cal is willing to pay him 4mill- so be it. TN is better after his time there. his recruiting was excellent and in this day and age bringing the star recruits in at the signing deadline if where the proof lies.
Joe Pa is in a class by himself. always has been; he turns down so much money in endorsements and media so as too not waste time not coaching.
I’m glad that PSU didn’t put him out a few years ago or force him out loke FSU did to Bowden. I’m sure he’s earned it.